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American Hustle, Gravity, 12 Years a Slave top Oscar nominations

American Hustle, Gravity and 12 Years A Slave lead the 86th Oscar nominations with 10 each but Inside Llewyn Davis is shut out.

Amy Adams received a nod for Best Actress for her role in American Hustle, which tied for first with 10 nominations, including Best Picture.

Sandra Bullock received a Best Actress nominee for her fole in Gravity, which tied for first with 10 nominations, including Best Picture. For a complete list of nominees, see page E7.

Michael Fassbender, left, Lupita Nyong'o and Chiwetel Ejiofor, right, in 12 Years A Slave. All three actors received Oscar nominations for their work in the film, which garnerd nine nominations in total, including Best Picture. (Francois Duhamel / AP)

With American Hustle and Gravity leading the 86th Oscar nominations netting 10 each, plus nine for 12 Years a Slave, the big question Thursday wasn’t “why them?” but “why not Inside Llewyn Davis?”

The critically lauded film from directing siblings the Coen Bros., about a troubled folk musician in 1961 New York City failed to earn nominations for acting, directing, picture or music. It was, however, nominated for Sound Mixing and Cinematography.

There are 10 available slots for Best Picture, yet members of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences filled only nine: American Hustle, Captain Phillips, Dallas Buyers Club, Gravity, Her, Nebraska, Philomena, 12 Years a Slave and The Wolf of Wall Street.

With this nomination, Streep adds another notch to her already-record tally as the actor with the most Academy Award nominations. Although she’s won three of the golden statuettes, this is her 18th nomination for playing irascible matriarch Violet Weston in August: Osage County.

Young Hollywood also got its due. Jennifer Lawrence became the youngest ever three-time acting nominee at age 23 with her nod for American Hustle.

Not only is it a good run for Lawrence, American Hustle director David O Russell has something to celebrate, being nominated for Best Director along with Alfonso Cuarón (Gravity) Alexander Payne (Nebraska), Steve McQueen (12 Years a Slave) and Martin Scorsese (The Wolf of Wall Street).

It’s the second year in a row one of Russell’s films has dominated the big Oscar categories. Among its nominations, Silver Linings Playbook was up for the four acting prizes in 2013 (with Lawrence winning) as well as Best Picture and Best Director.

Missing from the list of Best Actor nominees of Christian Bale (American Hustle), Bruce Dern (Nebraska), Leonardo DiCaprio (The Wolf of Wall Street), Chiwetel Ejiofor (12 Years a Slave) and Matthew McConaughey (Dallas Buyers Club) was an expected nod for Tom Hanks for Captain Phillips, which scored a Best Picture nod along with a nomination for Barkhad Abdi for Best Supporting Actor.

Robert Redford was also expected to be nominated for his nearly wordless solo turn as a stranded mariner in All is Lost but his name wasn’t called.

Quebec director Jean-Marc Vallee’s Dallas Buyers Club earned six nominations including Best Picture, Best Actor (McConaughey), Best Supporting Actor (Jared Leto) and Original Screenplay (Craig Borten and Melisa Wallack) but no Best Director nod for Vallee.

Still, Vallée has scored a nomination for Film Editing (with Montreal’s Martin Pensa, who also teamed with Vallée on Café de Flore) using the pseudonym John Mac McMurphy.

“What a beautiful way to end the incredible adventure that has been Dallas Buyers Club,” Vallée said in a statement. “My collaborators and I have had an amazing time making this film. Today we all share a collective sense of pride as we have had the opportunity to spotlight a part of history that’s both beautiful and sometimes painful to remember, and been able to tell a story which has touched the hearts of many.”

Also flying the Maple Leaf at the Oscar nominations is Canada’s Owen Pallett and Arcade Fire member Will Butler, for Best Original Score for futuristic romance, Her. Other Canadian connections include Toronto-born, Berlin-based producer David Gerson, part of the team behind the Palestinian film Omar; Toronto-born Andy Koyama, part of the sound-mixing team nominated for Lone Survivor; andMontreal-based computer graphics supervisor Chris Lawrence, part of the visual effects team on Gravity.

But Toronto director Sarah Polley, whose Stories We Tell was shortlisted for Best Documentary didn’t make the final cut. Yet the filmmaker showed typical grace in posting a tweet to congratulate nominee Joshua Oppenheimer for his doc The Act of Killing. “A movie that should and will have a great life and may change things for the better,” Polley wrote.

There was also a spirited online campaign reacting to director Gabriela Cowperthwaite’s SeaWorld expose Blackfish missing out on the documentary nominations.

While it was heartening to see Roger A. Deakins (Skyfall, True Grit, The Reader, Doubt) nominated for the 10th time for Cinematography, this time for Prisoners (directed by Canadian Denis Villeneuve) it means the great film craftsman has exactly the same number of nominations for Oscar 2014 as Jackass Presents: Bad Grandpa.

Yes, the Johnny Knoxville gross-out comedy can forever be referred to as an Oscar nominated film. It’s up for Best Makeup and Hairstyling.

The Academy Awards will take place March 2, with Ellen DeGeneres hosting the live telecast for the second time.

With files from The Canadian Press. For a complete list of nominees, go to thestar.com

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